Mates
by xXbloody-enamelXx
Summary: Love is the most powerful emotion... and Knarghellah believes she can't feel it. So why does a barbarian make her feel this way? Even more, Knarghellah and her companions must go to the Underdark to save Waterdeep or the end of time will reign...
1. Teaser

People know much, but they will never see what I've seen. The world needed heroes so I have answered. Mistake has led me to this misfortune of being a sworn protector: We thought we were okay, we had it under control, but the foolish novice wizard (human, of course) made an error in judgment with a teleportation spell gone awry. We separated and I found myself laying on the deck of a ship propelled by a ring of fire the surrounded it. I woke up groggy, and realized I was looking into the tip of an arrow of a drawn bow, my kabuki-like mask askew on my face. A tiny, lovely high-elf reached her hand out to me. I looked, but did not except as I made an effort to get up on my own and straightened my mask.

"Are you okay?" the small Elvin sorceress asked.

"I think so…" I replied. "A little fatigued."

"Who are you?" inquired the wizard who had drawn the arrow at me. "Or what are you, more so? Your red skin and tail and horns tell me demon."

"My name is Knarghellah. I'm a tiefling." I noticed a paladin staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Ah, so you're half elf, half demon. So why are you here on our ship?" he asked.

"Oh, umm… spell gone wrong, I think."

"Oh, okay." said the elf. "Well, my name is Belle. This is Diabolisque…" she said, pointing to the wizard. "and this is my fiancé Mira." She said, now indicating towards the paladin.

Noticing my weary state, Belle took me to her chambers and offered me a bed to lie on and food to eat. I fell down on the bed and my black hair rested on the pillow and lay in contrast to the crisp white of the sheets. I fell asleep and dreamed of past horrors; my mother being raped and murdered, me hiding under the stairs until they came for me and forced themselves on me too.

I woke up in darkness, sweat dripping down my face and trailing down the long dark scar on my upper arm. I still lie in the same room but the only light I saw was the flame of the elemental surrounding the ship. I saw Belle's outline standing in the doorway.

"Hello Knarghellah, we request your prescence on deck." I followed her and saw a regal elfin woman standing with an entourage of tall strong-looking men. She appeared to be some kind of elfin royalty. The wizard and the paladin stood by her talking.

"Hello Knarghellah," she said. "I am Selene. I heard you've appeared here by mistake. You can accompany us if you wish, or is there a place we can drop you off?" I shook my head "no."

Selene looked quizzical. "Haven't you got a home?"

"No," I sighed. "I am a drifter. I have no home."

Selene grimaced. "Well, I can tell you are a fighter, juding by your armor. Are you a blade for hire?"

"Sometimes…" I replied.

"Well," she continued. "We do need all the help we can get. We have no money to give you but we are heading to the town of Icewindale. There are rumors of a dragon somewhere nearby. If you would like to, you may join us and take anything of value you find along the way. Diabolisque here says dragon parts are very costly."

"Why not?" I answered. "I could use a bit of carnage. Hell, count me in."

The rest of the evening was spent chatting in the smoking room until we reached Icewindale. But on our way there, we noticed something. A mass of fog hovered a few miles behind us. But there was something odd about this fog; it seemed to be following us. A few miles off in a different direction was a ship. The fog suddenly came up upon this ship and swallowed it whole. It hovered there for a second then moved towards us; the second ship was nowhere to be seen. Mira put up his detect evil spell. There was something very defiantly warm and evil about it. But the fog was gaining on us. Belle attempted a spell to make the weather around the fog cold. The fog only absorbed the spell. The ship was now racing towards Icewindale but the fog was yet closer. Suddenly, we were engulfed. My head hit the floor. All went black.


	2. The Misfortune in Dragons & Old Friends

Ok so I realize me last chapter was short but bear with me here, it was only a teaser. Anyway, like I said this story is based on an actual D&D RPG that is currently in progress so I don't even know how it's going to end yet. Anyway, HAPPY 4/20 EVERYBODY!

xXbloodyenamelXx

P.S.

Phonetic spelling of names:

Knarghellah --- Nar-gell-ah

Diabolisque --- Dee-ah-boe-lisk

Keix --- Keys (like "car keys" except the "s" is more of a "z")

……………………………..

Red eyelids slowly opened to reveal black eyes. I looked around as I noticed my new companions slowly beginning to wake. The sun shined cheerily, almost as if it was mocking us in our ill fortune. I found my feet and walked over to the side of the ship. It was uncomfortably chilly, especially for a tiefling, so I pulled my old tattered cloak out of my haversack and whipped it across my shoulders. As I reached the edge of the ship I saw nothing but the sea below. We were hovering about 20 feet above the water and the sight of it made my stomach uneasy. The elemental that once surrounded the bottom of the ship was now nowhere to be seen.

I heard footsteps and I whipped around to find Selene walking on deck.

"Selene!" Mira exclaimed. "What happened? Where's the elemental? How long have we been here?"

"Don't fret Mira." She said calmly. "We're not sure what the fog was. It has set us back by a few days by shutting down the elemental, but we're working on getting it back up. In the mean time, we have a skiff that the four of you can take to get to Icewindale if need be."

"Alright, how long till we have it back up do you think?" he inquired.

"We're not sure. If we can't get it back up I'll send for my father to come and get me and my crew. It'd be best if you left if that were to be the case."

Mira nodded. "I understand."

We waited for a few hours. I spent my time in the smoking room with my beloved cigars until it got dark. The elemental suddenly sprang to life and in a few hours time, we made it to Icewindale. The four of us boarded the skiff as the ship could only take us to the port. We floated over the town then found ourselves speeding across a frozen river. Ahead of us there sat a tower. We could just barely make out the figure of a woman standing in the window and then turn away. When we reached it, Belle cast a fly spell on us and we floated up to the window. We found that we had stumbled upon some sort of bedroom. Surrounding the majority of the room was a white circle. In the center stood a pretty girl who looked to be human but something about her told us otherwise.

She spoke. "I assume you've come to fight the dragon." Her words were pronounced with the most precise articulation. It was beautiful to hear her talk. Her words slipped around and above her tongue like silk ribbon. It sounded as if honey coated her throat and each synonym was specifically pronounced and molded to make her speech pleasing to any ear and difficult to mistrust.

"Yes," answered Diabolisque. "And who are you?"

She smiled. "In your mortal tongue, my name would be Ellyris. I'm trapped here, but I'm willing to give you all something in exchange for my freedom."

"Give us what?" Diabolisque asked.

She sighed lazily and replied "Important information that pertains to slaying the resident dragon."

But Mira wasn't buying it. "Thank you Ellyris but I think we have this under control."

She shrugged. "Okay, but know this: Below you sits a tomb of many fallen adventurers who have declined my offer. Please, believe me, I've been here for a very long time and I've seen many fall. If you want to live, you'll listen to me."

Mira laughed. "We are no ordinary adventurers."

Ellyris laughed back. "That's exactly what they all said. But look at them now, nothing but bone and rotting flesh. Please, you need this information."

Mira attempted to detect lies but felt nothing, only truth. He turned to us and said "Well, she's not lying."

Belle spoke up, feeling the need to ask more questions. "Where are you from, Ellyris?"

Ellyris made a small laugh and smiled. "If only I could tell you. In order to do so in this human bag of flesh and mortality, I would need to liquidate my throat."

"Oh," said Belle. "Please don't do that."

"Well if Mira detects no lies, then I think we should do it," said Diabolisque. Then he turned to me. "What do you think Knarghellah?" I nodded in agreement. "Alright," he said. "How do we release you Ellyris?"

She pointed to the white circle. "That is what's holding me captive here. Erase part of that and I will release the information to you." Mira touched his boot to the white circle and erased a segment of the line. A bright light emanated for the rest of the circle and with a flash of blindingness, was gone. Ellyris smiled and walked towards us.

"Thank you my friends." she said.

"The information, please." Mira reminded her.

"Of course," said Ellyris. She pointed to an opening in the floor. "That is the entrance to the cavern below. The drop is about 100 feet and many have died by misjudging the distance alone. Fly down into the cavern. You'll see a large door. This is the door that everyone goes through. Unfortunately, if they had only looked around more, they would have found another entrance that would've taken them right to the dragon. It's a perfect way to make a sneak attack. Going through the main door is a guarantee of walking straight into the dragon's mouth. You have a better chance of succeeding if you go through the other door." She turned towards the window and looked out into the darkened sky. "And now I must take my leave. Farewell… and good luck." And she dissipated into nothingness.

"Well," said Diabolisque. "Let's kill us some dragon."

We flew down into the cavern. As we were told, there sat a door in front of us. Piles of corpses lay all around in disarray. We searched the walls for the second door and once it was found, we proceeded through it.

Upon entering, a foul stench met our noses. The room was a tunnel filled with dark liquid. Many small islands sat peacefully in the black muck with little strips of land connecting them. At the end of then tunnel there was a large room with many piles of gold, platinum, silver and other various riches. They were all stacked in neat piles as if someone or something had organized it all. We continued through the tunnel but stopped once we saw life. Two young elves were in the larger room, wrestling and playing with each other. Mira put up his detect evil spell and felt much of it emanating from the elves. Diabolisque pulled out an arrow and put it on his bow, aiming for the elves. He released… and he missed…

They both immediately stopped playing and turned to us. Then, they came at us at full speed. I grabbed my two swords, Diabolisque drew another arrow, and Mira pulled out his blade. As they reached us they began taking the shape of two young black dragons. As the first one reached us, I flew up and dug my first sword deep into its throat, then my second, then my first again. I continued stabbing it until it was sufficiently wounded. Then, with all my strength, I pulled my first sword up through its stomach, leaving the thing dead and ripped to shreds. As it hit the ground, it rolled over into the black liquid, completely engulfed. I looked over at the second dragon and noticed that Diabolisque was badly hurt, almost dead. I got the chance to watch Belle finish off a spell as the second dragon dropped to the floor. Just as my dragon had done, Belle's dragon fell into the sludge and was too completely engulfed.

Belle walked over to the comatose Diabolisque and performed a healing spell on him. As he was waking up, I walked over to the piles of riches and began stuffing them into my haversack. Soon, the others joined me and began taking the treasures too. I had grabbed much of the pile when we all began to feel the floor shake.

"Uh oh," whispered Mira. "Mother's home…"

Then suddenly a colossal black dragon busted through the wall. We looked at the size and realized that we were way in over our heads. Belle re-casted the fly spell on us and we sped out of the cavern, but we weren't fast enough. I nearly missed the end of the dragon's tail by and inch and flew into the tunnel. Belle, however, wasn't so lucky. The dragon swiped at her with its claws, knocking her into the river of black. Her arm, her leg and her bag of holding all hit the liquid, causing an acidic burn on Belle's body and tearing her bag. She screamed in pain and pulled herself out of the liquid. She grabbed a vile of water and poured it on her leg and arm, stopping the acid from burning her further. We tried to stop and help her but the dragon was right behind us.

"It's okay!" she yelled. "You all distract the dragon and I'll create a portal to get out of here!" We did as she said and flew out of the tunnel, into the next room, and up back into the tower. As we got back into the bedroom where Ellyris had been, we waited for Belle as long as we could be then turned and saw the claws of the dragon reach up and onto the floor. We flew out of the tower and back onto the skiff, rushing across the frozen river and into the night. But the dragon was gaining on us. We had to do something. Every spell Diabolisque tried had failed. Finally, with the dragon just 10 feet behind us, we resolved to lower the skiff and stop suddenly, hoping the dragon would keep flying and hit the ever nearing mountainside on the other side of the river. Just as Mira was about the lower the skiff, we saw a man standing on the side of the mountain in a hooded cloak. There was suddenly a flash of light. It was now daytime. The skiff was still moving but the dragon was nowhere to be seen, nor was Diabolisque.

Mira and I rode on the skiff back to the town. Something about the town caught our attention. There were absolutely no lights on in any buildings, though it was merely 7:00 at night. Well, all except one building. The local tavern, named the Drunken Wizard, was completely lit up. We found this odd so we landed our skiff down by the tavern and entered.

It seemed as if the whole town had packed itself into the tavern. Everybody looked to be celebrating and completely overcome with joy. But it didn't feel natural. It seemed like the whole thing was an act, as if they were continually going through a routine. Another odd thing was that there were no barmaids walking around filling up drinks, nor was there a bartender. Some citizens were even drinking out of empty tankards and mugs. We looked up and noticed a man sitting on a rafter by the second story balcony.

"I suppose it's you that's causing all of this madness?" Mira called up tom him. He had a look a familiarity on his face when he saw the figure.

"Now why would you think that?" the man yelled back.

"Perhaps because you're the only one acting normal under this roof?" Mira responded.

The man laughed. "Well, if you think I'm responsible, then why don't you come up here and get me?"

Mira gritted his teeth. He scanned the room and found a set of stairs leading up to the second story. He raced up them and I followed after. We flew up the flight of stairs and found ourselves on the second story. The man, who I now assumed to be a wizard, was just beyond our reach. I stood up on the rafter he sat upon and turned to us.

"I suppose that now we must fight, correct?" he said.

Mira nodded. "But must I really kill you again?"

The man laughed. "Ah, but that would not be a fair fight. I am but a lowly wizard and your skills far surpass my own. So if we are to fight, I must choose a champion."

"A champion?" asked Mira. "And who might that be?"

"Well, if you wish to fight me, I shall choose my champion and then tell you. If you do not wish to fight me, and let these poor town folk stay here till death, then leave."

At that exact moment, Belle busted into the first story of the tavern. Lumbering behind her came a tall and, in his own droll way, attractive half-orc (who actually look more like a kruek) carrying an over-sized maul. I looked down at the half-orc in surprise.

"Hi Knarghellah!" he called up to me.

"Keix! What are you doing here?" I replied. "Did Bob send you?"

"Yes," he replied. "Bob sent me…"

And then from behind Mira and me, appeared a glowing beam of light. It disappeared and in its place stood the princess Selene.

"I have named my champion." said the wizard. "Selene," he spoke as he turned toward her. "Kill them…"

End Chapter 2

……………………………..

Will they kill Selene? Who's Bob! Who's Keix! HOW DO KNARGHELLA AND KEIX KNOW EACH OTHER! GAH I MUST KNOW!

Ok so maybe that's not what's running through your head at this moment but still, all of these questions shall be answered in the next chapter.

Lovies,

xXbloodyenamelXx


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